FORT COLLINS — Colorado State coach Larry Eustachy Wednesday announced the Rams had added Antwan Scott, a transfer point guard from Grambling who will be immediately eligible to play for the Rams this season because he already has his degree from the Louisiana school.

According to Rivals.com, Colorado received an oral commitment this week from Aaron Haigler, a 6-foot-7, 250-pound senior at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, Calif.

Haigler, rated a two-star prospect by the recruiting-based website, told Rivals.com affiliate BuffStampede.com that Colorado coaches are not pegging him for a certain position. Haigler, who is said to have 4.8 speed, could be a tight end or he could grow into an offensive tackle.

“I don’t have a preference,” Haigler told BuffStampede.com.

According to Rivals.com, Haigler has an offer list that includes Iowa State, San Jose State and Utah State. He apparently impressed CU coaches during a summer camp in Southern California.

CSU’s Treyous Jarrells running for Grossmont Community College (Hal Summers, Grossmont Community College)

Colorado State’s Monday night scrimmage at Hughes Stadium was closed, but the Rams released statistics afterwards that showed that JC transfer Treyous Jarrells was the top ground gainer, with 46 yards on seven carries, with a long run of 15 yards.

The other contenders for the No. 1 running back spot didn’t get as much work, with Alabama transfer Dee Hart gaining 18 yards on three carries and Jasen Oden Jr., the converted defensive back listed at the top of the media guide depth chart going into preseason practices, with five rushes for 15 yards.

Garrett Grayson was 19-for-25 passing, for 188 yards and two touchdowns. But the other three quarterbacks also were impressive statistically. True freshman Coleman Key was 10-12, for 138 yards and two TDS; redshirt freshman Nick Stevens was 11-18, for 125 yards; and redshirt sophomore Craig Leonard was 4-5, for 51 yards.

BOULDER — Injured Colorado senior safety Jered Bell plans to petition the NCAA for a rare sixth year of eligibility, CU coach Mike MacIntyre said Monday following a morning practice.

A returning starter, Bell tore an ACL during Friday evening’s practice and is lost for the season. The Californian had already used a redshirt year in 2011 — after tearing the ACL in his other knee during August camp.

“It’s a shame being a guy with so much experinece, good leader,” MacIntyre said. “I think he will come back (in 2015) for his sixth year. I believe that will all go through. He told me he wanted to if the knee heals right and (rehabilitation) goes as it should.”

According to Rivals.com affiliate GoldandGreenNews.com, the Colorado State football program has received an oral commitment from Frank Umu, a senior defensive tackle at Heritage High School in Littleton.

Umu is listed at 6-foot-5 and 275 pounds. He is rates two stars (out of five) by Rivals.com and also received offers from Eastern Washington and Weber State.

Umu becomes fifth known commitment to Colorado State for the current recruiting cycle. National signing day is Feb. 4.

Colorado State women’s soccer coach Bill Hempen is set to begin his second season with the Rams. (Photo courtesy of Dan Byers)

Bill Hempen laughed as he recalled a memory of his first season as the head coach of Colorado State’s brand new women’s soccer program.

“We were handing out name tags at the first practice,” Hempen said. “We didn’t know anybody.”

When Hempen was hired by CSU in February 2013, he was racing the clock. He was given five months to build the program from scratch and have it ready to play that fall, a giant undertaking that included warp-speed recruiting, scheduling and promoting.

“I said, ‘If you agree to do that, you are more crazy than I thought,'” said Jeff Hooker, the University of Denver coach and a close friend of Hempen. “I told him to be prepared to be as frustrated as you’ve ever been in your years of coaching.”

BOULDER — Colorado women’s soccer coach Danny Sanchez might have been a bit surprised, pleasantly surprised, that his team reached the NCAA Tournament last fall — in his third season.

Of course, he’ll take it. But that means the bar has been raised regarding expectations for the program, he added.

“I think last year we jumped ahead a little faster than we thought we would be,” Sanchez said. “To be honest, we were probably one of the last teams to get into the NCAA Tournament. But we can build on that.”

Colorado finished 14-7-2 in 2013, including 4-5-2 in the challenging Pac-12 Conference. The Buffaloes return 18 letterwinners, including seven starters.

My story based on a Monday interview with Colorado State University president Tony Frank is in the Tuesday paper and online.

Much of what he said in the half-hour discussion didn’t make the story, and here are some of his additional comments, either amplifying on what did make the story or on other subjects:

On what CSU could do if the school, as is likely, doesn’t meet the goal to raise $110 million in seed money for a new stadium by October:

“There are going to be people who argue that, well, this means a very simple solution – we go back and we fix up Hughes. I don’t think the solution is that simple. It’s a complex topic. If you wanted to do the bare minimum with Hughes – and we’ve run these numbers ourselves and had them checked by an independent firm – you’re looking at $30 million for sewers, electric and minimal safety concrete repair.”

On why that money would have to come from the general fund:

“That’s the paradox of this whole thing. There’s no other place, if you can’t issue revenue bonds and you don’t have donor funds, you’ll issue general obligation bonds, which are in this day and age tuition-backed. That’s the conundrum. Apparently I didn’t do a great job of communicating this in the process, but that was the big advantage of the issue we proposed. Did it have risks, sure, everything has somewhat of a risk. But there was the possibility that if we did it that way, we wouldn’t impact fees, general fund, tuition. If we go back and say, well, we didn’t get there, we have to fix up Hughes and stay where we’re at, we will. That’s $30 million of general fund.”Read more…

John C. “Jack” Graham listens while CSU president Tony Frank, left, addresses the media during a press conference introducing him as athletic director on Dec. 1, 2011. Graham was fired Friday for what Frank cited as differences of opinion. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)

Today, Colorado State University informed me of its decision to terminate my contract as Director of Athletics. This announcement is surprising and deeply disappointing to me. I will personally miss the opportunity to continue to build on what we have accomplished during the past two and a half years.

We have taken significant steps to enhance Colorado State University’s Athletics program:

Nine new outstanding Head Coaches have been hired — all with the potential to deliver meaningful results for our student athletes’ and University’s success.

The contracts for our four most prominent sports — football, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball — have all been extended for close to a decade with significant break-up fees. This has secured our future of great leadership and coaching and mitigates the “stepping stone” dynamic that has prevailed at CSU.

The administrative staff in the Department has been greatly enhanced by hiring many senior and accomplished executives. Our Department of Athletics is in very good hands.

We have ignited RAM Nation with new enthusiasm for an Athletic Department that “thinks big, works hard and settles for nothing less than excellence” and that “Does it All”: recruits people of great character; requires and supports student-athletes to succeed academically; and delivers results on the field of competition.

We’ve raised our expectations of student-athlete conduct. We have accomplished a behavioral-incident rate below that of the general student population — a significant decline since the time I joined CSU.

John C. “Jack” Graham meets with members of the media in Fort Collins during a press conference after being appointed Colorado State University’s athletic director on Dec. 1, 2011. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)

Below is the email — sent at 3:34 p.m. on Friday — that Colorado State University president Tony Frank sent to the university community about Jack Graham’s abrupt firing as the school’s athletic director.

Ram Club Members, Athletics Donors and Rams Season Ticket Holders,

As you may have heard, I have removed Jack Graham as the Director of Athletics and issued the following statement:

“I have elected to terminate Jack Graham’s employment as athletic director. While I am grateful to Jack for the energy he’s brought to CSU in establishing a culture that expects excellence within Ram Athletics and his actions in hiring great coaches and staff, there have come to exist some substantial differences in our views. Based on our differences, I have chosen to exercise the termination for convenience clause within Jack’s contract to allow the university and the athletic department to move forward, building on the successes that Jack brought to our program. As a personnel issue, this will be the University’s only comment on this personnel action.

As our most loyal Rams supporters, I want to let you know that, even with this change, our commitment to excellence in CSU Athletics has not and will not change. And your continued passion and support for the green and gold will help keep that momentum strong.

In addition, this decision is in no way connected to the on-campus stadium project. Our commitment to our student-athletes and to excellence across the university drives our decisions about Rams athletics and always has. The stadium project is separate from this personnel action and will continue to move forward as planned, with me providing a recommendation to the Board of Governors in October. We appreciate all of the support CSU has received for this initiative through your donations and commitment.

A national search will begin immediately for Jack’s replacement. I have named Deputy Athletic Director John Morris as the Interim Director of Athletics to lead the department during the search. John is an experienced and respected administrator who I am confident will continue the progress that has been made in recent years.

Above all, I want to reinforce our shared, strong commitment to CSU Athletics and to providing a climate that inspires and supports the success of our student-athletes. Our institutional commitment to excellence in Rams athletics has never been stronger. We’re confident in the future and looking forward to a great year – thanks for your support.

FORT COLLINS — When I asked Jim McElwain Tuesday about the leadership role of senior tackle Ty Sambrailo as the only returning offensive line starter, the Colorado State coach brought up a classic sitcom.

No, not “Seinfeld.”

Not “Cheers” or “Friends.”

Not the “Dick Van Dyke Show.”

Not even one of those series I’ve never heard of until I see the boxed set for the ninth season at Best Buy.

But Hart was not on the list released Tuesday of 49 players who, in CSU’s words, “are available to the media during Colorado State’s player availability times.” So at least for now, it’s apparent that Hart’s availability was a one-time exception to Jim McElwain’s policy of keeping first-year players in the program off-limits to the media. That was most noticeable last season, when Kapri Bibbs had a spectacular season and wasn’t made available to the media because, as a redshirt sophomore, he was in his first season with the Rams.

The Colorado Buffaloes will take on DePaul in the first round of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic on Dec. 22 in Honolulu.

The Buffaloes will play the Blue Demons at 2:30 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center. The game will be televised on ESPNU. The eight-team tournament, which takes place Dec. 22-25, is entering its sixth year.

It will be the second-ever match between the two teams and the first in 74 years when CU won 50-37 in the NIT semifinal in 1940.

Other teams in the tournament include George Washington, Hawaii, Loyola Marymount, Ohio, Nebraska and Wichita State.

FORT COLLINS — My story about running back Dee Hart’s arrival and on-field work with the Colorado State Rams at Monday’s first pre-season practice will be online shortly. It includes extensive comments from Hart himself because CSU coach Jim McElwain made an exception to his usual policy of not allowing players in their first year in the program to speak to the media.

Kensler joined The Denver Post in 1989 and has covered a variety of beats, including Colorado, Colorado State, golf, Olympics and the Denver Broncos. His brush with greatness: losing in a two-on-two pickup basketball game at Ohio State against two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.